Home listening - Salieri’s answer to The Marriage of Figaro

The Guardian 0

Christophe Rousset conducts a fine recording of Les Horaces – then turns his hand to Couperin’s harpsichord suites

• Antonio Salieri has had a renaissance as a composer famous for being not quite as good as Mozart. Partly as a result of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, his grand operas Les Danaïdes and Tarare have been revived. They were successful in their own time; now comes a fine account of Les Horaces (Aparte), which was not. Composed in 1786 (the year of Figaro), it was destined for the French court at Fontainebleau, but the queen rejected it, and in spite of adjustments it never found favour.

The libretto, about a power struggle in ancient Rome, is awkward, but there is enough dramatic impetus to produce some terrific music, especially for the unfortunate Camille (Judith van Wanroij), who is caught up in the conflict. Horace is the fresh-voiced Julien Dran, and his implacable father is Jean-Sébastien Bou.